Hendrawan advises Daren Liew, Wei Feng to develop winning habit for 2016 Olympics – Badminton News
As London Olympics reached its climax, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has started working out for next edition of the mega event which will be staged in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
BAM has directed national back-up squad coach Hendrawan to groom reserve shuttlers like Daren Liew and Wei Feng Chong to secure country’s pride after the departure of maestro Lee Chong Wei.
World Number two shuttler Chong Wei is likely to bid farewell to the arena in 2014 and Hendrawan believes that back-up shuttlers must put all in their possession to prove themselves eligible replacement of the veterans.
The badminton guru vowed to prepare youngsters to shoulder their responsibility in the future. He stated that they cannot depend only on the senior lot and there must be strong reserve squad to replace them at the international level.
Hendrawan said, "I have to keep pushing the younger players as we cannot keep hoping that only the seniors will be able to do well. If the seniors are not performing, the back-up must be good enough to take their places."
He declared Daren and Wei Feng the potential Malaysian campaigners in 2016 Olympic Games as he briefed that both young shuttlers have been making strong bids in the arena and they possess all that is needed to be a world beater.
He said, "As of now, Daren and Wei Feng have started performing consistently and they will be pushing for a place in the Olympics."
According to Olympic qualification rules, Malaysia will have two seats if its Men’s Singles shuttlers fall in top 16 players of the world.
At the moment, Daren is ranked 27th whereas Wei Feng holds 32nd spot in the World Ranking. They are also National Number Three and Four after Lee Chong Wei and Hafiz Hashim respectively.
Hendrawan thinks that they will have a clear picture in coming two years as it is too early to predict who will represent the country.
However, in same breath he also advised both shuttlers to show some consistency to ensure their presence in next edition of Olympics.
He said, "The next two years will be important as they must start producing better results and also rectify their weaknesses to give them a genuine chance of battling for Olympic qualification."
BAM has showed intentions to field these youngsters in prestigious badminton events in the future to give them international exposure before the beginning of Olympic qualification race.
It looks like BAM is working from the ground up to prepare the next generation of badminton players to represent the country in future mega events. It will be interesting to watch how they manage to develop some of their new exciting talent for a move into
the professional arena.
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